Leader Rodolfo Parker Political position Centre | Ideology Christian democracy | |
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Founded 12 October 1960 (PDC)
2011 (Party of Hope) Headquarters Alameda Juan Pablo II y 11 Avenida Norte bis. 507 Centro de Gobierno, San Salvador, El Salvador International affiliation Centrist Democrat International | ||
The Christian Democratic Party (Spanish: Partido Demócrata Cristiano) is a Christian democratic party in El Salvador. After being officially disbanded by the Supreme Court in 2011, it continued to work under the name of Party of Hope (Spanish: Partido de la Esperanza), before re-taking its original name in 2012.
In the legislative elections, held on 16 March 2003, the party won 7.3% of the popular vote and 5 out of 84 seats in the Legislative Assembly. In the presidential election of 21 March 2004, the PDC supported Héctor Silva Argüello of the United Democratic Centre, who won 3% of the vote. In the 12 March 2006 legislative election, the party won 6.8% of the popular vote and 6 out of 84 seats. The party had a similar level of support for the 2009 legislative elections, winning 6% of the vote and 5 seats.
History
The Christian Democratic Party is the longest lasting of El Salvador's two leading parties. It was the left-of-center party while the Party of National Conciliation was right-of-center. With the rise of more socialist and communist parties in El Salvador, it became more of a centrist party. During the civil war, many leaders of the PDC who were more left-leaning were killed or disappeared, and the party moved to the right.
In 1989 Christian Democrat José Napoleón Duarte was the first Salvadoran president to democratically hand over power to a successor. The party's position has since shrunk with the rise of ARENA and FMLN.
However, since no party holds a majority in the legislature, it can be seen as effectively holding the balance of power. It often sides with ARENA and supported their effort to ratify the Central American Free Trade Agreement and pass a law supposedly aimed at fighting terrorism.
They struggled to pick a presidential candidate for 2009. The vice presidential candidate lives in the United States and has campaigned promising to give Salvadorans abroad the opportunity to vote in future presidential elections.
While the party was technically to be disbanded after the 2004 election, in which its candidate did not gather the necessary 3% of the vote, it was allowed to hold on to its registration by decree; this decree was declared unconstitutional on 30 April 2011, and the party was thus disbanded.
The PDC was effectively replaced by the Party of Hope, which was registered with the National Electoral Tribunal in October 2011. In September 2012 the Party of Hope asked for its name to be changed back to Christian Democratic Party, which was allowed by the Electoral Tribunal.